a bleeding purple utah jazz blog

Off-Day Odds and Ends

1. According to Memo’s website, “The left Achilles tendon which was completely ruptured and was reconnected by 4 stitches and support was provided by the plantarias tendon which is a smaller tendon.”

Strange how an injury that can keep a player out for up to a year and change the course of his career is repaired by just 4 stitches. The funny thing is, it suddenly becomes wonderful that Memo’s game is not reliant on speed or athleticism. It’s absolutely great that he’s never been a high-flying trapeze artist. With his brand of trailing 3s/foot-on-the-line 2s and slo-mo spin-and-drives to the basket, there’s every chance (in my medically uninformed mind) that Memo can return to doing everything as well as he did pre-injury.

2. After undergoing platelet-rich-plasma therapy in LA, an “upbeat” AK spoke to the media for the first time in over a week. He said he was feeling “different” after also getting blood drained from his calf, and that it’s unlikely but possible he’ll return if the series goes long. Note to self: *must not get hopes up.*

/Aside: The draining thing totally makes sense to me. Last year, there was a period of about six months when I couldn’t lift my right arm all the way up. I kept thinking that I’d just tweaked or strained something and it would get better on its own, but it never did. Eventually, I went to see a traditional/alternative medicine guy (“guy” because I’m not exactly sure of his credentials lol) who treated it by pricking the part of my shoulder that hurt with a needle and using suction cups to draw blood out. It took several weekly sessions to get pain-free, but the effectiveness of the treatment was immediately obvious from Day 1.

3. (H/T prodigal punk) The reason why AK’s profile wasn’t to be found amongst other Nike athletes on Nike’s website? He switched over to Adidas sometime during the last month. (No AK listing on adidas’ ridiculously slow-loading website yet.)

It looks like someone’s strewn rose petals at AK’s feet. In case you’re wondering, I was at the movies.

4.sltrib pointed out today that 60% of our Game 2 starting lineup (CJ, OMSW, and Fes) had a combined 87 minutes of Playoff experience prior to this series, and that CJ accounted for it all.

With Memo and AK out, we’re:

–much younger–
Our active roster has only two players over the age of 26: Boozer (28), and Korver (29). The entire roster has an average age of 24.6.

–and much more inexperienced–
Prior to our current four-year post-season run, Memo played in 39 Playoff games (and won one championship ring) as a Piston, and AK played in 9 Playoff games as a Stockton-to-Malone era Jazzman.

Ronnie P. played a total of 9 minutes in 4 Playoff games as a King, while KK played 147 minutes in 5 games as a 76er.

The Koof, Fes, OMSW, Yatta, and OJ are without Playoff experience, while Boozer, Sap, CJ, and Deron had no Playoff experience prior to the current run.

5. If positive thinking had any tangible power, AK (and Memo) would be so freaking healthy right now…